ENG500 Feedback comments to students

Academic year 2012/13

Teams have coursework portfolio pages and students have individual logbook pages in which they may write notes as they work on their product development. They are encouraged to use the commenting feature to write questions as they work. The unit lecturer can post feedback using the same commenting feature. Comments written by each student is private.

The list below contains feedback comments written by the unit lecturer, but, without any student information. It is provided in case other students have similar questions.

Comment 131 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Marking criteria specific to this coursework submission:

[FAILED] minimal consideration of the dependencies between the goals of all students in the group
The report did not contain any consideration of the goals of other students in the group and how that affected the student, the group activities, the dynamics of the students in the group or the actual performance of the group.

[FAILED] minimal consideration of the skills and efforts required for the group to be successful
The report contained statements such as, "The product development process was accompanied by the enthusiasm, contribution and effort of all the group members including myself." Those are GENERIC statements without any consideration of evidence from the group activities. Statements such as "Essentially, the group leader was concerned about the group performance and extremely interested with the teamís needs and problems, which resulted in a correct and fair approach of the entire process. Thus, the final grade has been allocated equally. Thereupon, the groupís performance was positive. Good management and leadership helps to develop team work and the integration of individual and group goals" are GENERIC statements without considerations of skills or efforts by the student or any other students in the SPECIFIC group that the student joined for the group project. Anyone can make general statements about these concepts. The application of these concepts require the student to consider them in the context of their role in the group project and how these concepts affected, was applied or could be applied to specific activities and actions of students in the group.

[FAILED] minimal consideration of the dependencies between your personal traits and career goals
The report did not contain any consideration of the personal traits or the career goals of the student. It has generic sentences such as, "Eventually, different crucial characteristics of traits and skills were explored amongst group members and this group project will have a positive impact on our future career goals." But, that does not show that the student considered their experiences during the group project and whether any lessons could be learned from those experiences to help improve their own career goals or while applying for placement or jobs. Another generic sentence was, "With reference to Grashaís and Reichmannís (1974) learning style scale, my personal learning style is reflective." Anyone can write such a general claim. Such a generic claim does not show consideration of the student's experience in relation to the group project and how that experience affected their learning style or helped to identify their learning style.

[FAILED] minimal effort to follow conventional writing requirements
The report contained 9 citations, such as "(Cummings & Keen, 2008, p.10)" and "Grashaís and Reichmannís (1974)". But, there was no references list. Such bad scholarship is evidence that the report content was from a third party source. The report contained the entire IET Rules of Conduct. That might be reasonable if the student intended to discuss each rule in detail. But, there were no discussions of each rule in detail. The coursework description document required that "Each student must submit their coursework by writing to their assigned coursework page." The instructions on the assigned coursework submission page required students to "Use the comments form to add entries to your logbook." One of the benefits of using the comments form is the timestamp, which provides evidence of the student's effort towards the coursework. Additionally, written feedback comments and verbal reminders during lectures were provided to all students about this coursework requirement. Instead of a logbook, the only submission was an MS Word report uploaded on the due date. The student made the intentional decision to not follow the instructions and submitted a report without any evidence of effort during the entire academic year.

[FAILED] very few examples from your own experience
The report failed to describe, discuss or reflect on any specific examples involving the student or any other student in the group. It did not mention any of the research activities, design activities, prototyping activities, work planning activities, group record keeping activities, group portfolio writing activities or the individual marks allocation activities.

Comment 130 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

PLEASE RE-READ COMMENTS 40 AND 52. I do not want to repeat the content of those comments.

Comment 53 makes accusations and places blame with other students. That is NOT an appeal. It simply is making blame. Such writing does not help anyone.

Comment 53 makes claims for the comment author without supporting evidence or facts. Worse, the comment clearly IGNORED the advice I wrote in comments 40 and 52.

DO NOT WRITE TO BLAME OTHER STUDENTS. The mark for the group clearly indicates that the WHOLE GROUP FAILED - that means ALL students were to blame.

Write facts and provide evidence about YOUR OWN CONTRIBUTIONS. Then, other students in the group can decide for themselves.

Comment 129 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The following sentence from comments 44 and 46 is incorrect:

"This meeting was convened by the recommendation of the course lecturer (Dr. Chi) in an effort to challenge and proof the invalidity of the mark allocations."

This is exactly what I wrote in comment 40:

"If a student wants to change individual marks, then, that student must make their case to the other students in the group for any changes."

In comment 40, I also wrote:

"You can use this coursework page to make your case in writing if you want it recorded."

No one has written any new evidence. The comments contain empty claims, unhelpful threats and incorrect information. Such comments do not change the situation and only serve to reinforce the reason for the low group mark.

If anyone wants to make a case for themselves - write using facts and evidence.

Comment 128 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please use WHOLE NUMBERS. Marks are not recorded in fractions.

Comment 127 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please use WHOLE NUMBERS. Marks are not recorded in fractions.

Comment 126 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

This is to ALL students in the group.

There is a reason I put specific marking criteria statements with the team mark. The relevant statement for this discussion is:
[FAIL] Minimal efforts to allocate work and resolve problems that affect the group

One implication from that statement is that the submitted coursework documents failed to provide evidence of efforts to share and manage work within the group. I had repeated many times during the year, to individual members of this group as well as to the whole group and to the whole unit, that evidence of sharing and managing work is important for the process of allocating individual marks. Since the WHOLE GROUP failed to collect evidence about work done by anyone, the group must now find a different way to allocate individual marks.

The method described in comment 32 is valid according the coursework description because 11 of 13 students is an overwhelming majority and the coursework clearly stated that "each group must allocate individual coursework marks to each student from the total group mark. The decision of the group majority is final."

No one in the group can blame anyone else. As a group, work was not allocated, performed, reported or shared. As a group, no one wanted to address the disagreements and problems with leading the group. Blaming is not action. Change is action. As a group, no one wanted to put in the required efforts to make positive changes.

If a student wants to change individual marks, then, that student must make their case to the other students in the group for any changes. You can use this coursework page to make your case in writing if you want it recorded.

This unpleasant situation could have been avoided if the ENTIRE GROUP had taken action during the year to record evidence of work and address the disagreements within the group. Without the benefit of reliable evidence, the group has to default to using the basic coursework requirement that "The decision of the group majority is final." I hope everyone has learned important lessons from this experience.

Comment 125 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 30 is a serious disappointment because the student who wrote that comment showed no awareness or appreciation for the importance of involving other students in the group.

By comparison, the process described in comments 32 and 33 is an excellent example of a group of students coming together during a difficult situation and working together to find a compromise. The activities, process and outcomes described in comments 32 and 33 are important learning outcomes for this unit. Working in a group is difficult because it depends on the personal integrity of each person.

The marks indicated in comment 32 will be used as the marks agreed by the majority of the group.

Comment 124 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

((90 marks) - (6 marks deduction)) x (12 students) = 1008 team marks to allocate
[A] Comprehensive research and creative analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[A] Coordinated and comprehensive efforts to build, illustrate, test and demonstrate prototypes
[A] An ability to achieve specific design objectives through the selection and application of design principles and techniques
[A] Informative and compelling efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[A] Successful development of a rigorous set of requirements, accurate specifications and a creative product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[A] Consistent efforts to coordinate work, track progress and proactively manage team dynamics
[A] An ability to articulate design concepts for clarity and effect
[C] An ability to follow conventional writing requirements

Comment 123 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(84 marks) x (11 students) = 924 team marks to allocate
[A] Comprehensive research and creative analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[A] Coordinated and comprehensive efforts to build, illustrate, test and demonstrate prototypes
[A] An ability to achieve specific design objectives through the selection and application of design principles and techniques
[A] Informative and compelling efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[A] Successful development of a rigorous set of requirements, accurate specifications and a creative product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[A] Consistent efforts to coordinate work, track progress and proactively manage team dynamics
[A] An ability to articulate design concepts for clarity and effect
[C] An ability to follow conventional writing requirements

Comment 122 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(80 marks) x (10 students) = 800 team marks to allocate
[A] Comprehensive research and creative analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[A] Coordinated and comprehensive efforts to build, illustrate, test and demonstrate prototypes
[A] An ability to achieve specific design objectives through the selection and application of design principles and techniques
[A] Informative and compelling efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[A] Successful development of a rigorous set of requirements, accurate specifications and a creative product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[C] Consistent efforts to coordinate work and resolve problems that affect the group
[A] An ability to articulate design concepts for clarity and effect
[D] An attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes

Comment 121 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(63 marks) x (10 students) = 630 team marks to allocate
[C] Competent research and analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[B] Comprehensive efforts to build, illustrate, test and demonstrate prototypes
[C] Competent efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[C] Competent development of requirements, specifications and a product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[B] Consistent efforts to coordinate work, track progress and manage team dynamics
[D] An attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes

Comment 120 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

((58 marks) - (6 marks deduction)) x (10 students) = 520 team marks to allocate
[B] Comprehensive research and analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[D] Earnest efforts to build and demonstrate prototypes
[D] Earnest efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[D] Earnest attempts to develop requirements, specifications and a product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[B] Consistent efforts to coordinate work, track progress and manage team dynamics
[C] An ability to follow conventional writing requirements

Comment 119 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(54 marks) x (11 students) = 594 team marks to allocate
[D] Earnest attempts to research 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[C] Competent efforts to build, test and demonstrate prototypes
[C] Competent efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[D] Earnest attempts to develop requirements, specifications and a product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[D] Earnest, but inconsistent, efforts to allocate work and resolve problems that affect the group
[D] An attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes

Comment 118 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(50 marks) x (9 students) = 450 team marks to allocate
[C] Competent research and analysis of 3 solution concepts for each design problem
[D] Earnest efforts to build and demonstrate prototypes
[D] Earnest efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[D] Earnest attempts to develop requirements, specifications and a product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[D] Earnest, but inconsistent, efforts to allocate work and resolve problems that affect the group
[D] An attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes

Comment 117 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

(40 marks) x (13 students) = 520 team marks to allocate
[FAIL] Insufficient research about solution concepts for each design problem
[D] Earnest efforts to build and demonstrate prototypes
[D] Earnest efforts to demonstrate a prototype product to other students in the unit
[FAIL] Insufficient efforts to develop requirements, specifications and a product that use the Arduino platform to solve each design problem
[FAIL] Minimal efforts to allocate work and resolve problems that affect the group
[D] An attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes

Comment 116 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 8 indicated that the group did not read the instructions to the left of the upload button. The instructions has been there since the start of the year. Repeating it, "Click browse button to select a file. Then, click upload button. Do not use file names with spaces or punctuation marks. File names are case sensitive." Other groups successfully uploaded zip files.

It is the group's responsibility to submit the coursework correctly. Waiting until the last minute and not reading instructions are not valid excuses.

Comment 115 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

I will consider both videos as part of the evidence to support the prototyping done by the group. They are positive indications of the group prototyping efforts. However, they do not add new design considerations or information that would be sufficiently significant to change the assessed demonstration.

The student who sent the videos to me on behalf of the group wrote this phrase in the email, "the mastermind the Ethernet that was supplied didn't work". That is not a valid excuse. It was the responsibility of each group to test its prototypes, including network access. Prior to the demonstration, the group did not perform testing with the provided Internet access device. Working at the last minute and choosing not to test include the responsibility to accept the consequences. I had already provided a significant benefit of the doubt to the group at the time of the assessed demonstration.

Comment 114 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Someone wrote the mobile number into your group coursework page at 3:26pm yesterday. I texted the other groups at around 10 am and met them to distribute the parts at 2pm.

The other group wrote into their coursework page on Feb 25 at 2:26pm to order the Ethernet shield and your group wrote into your coursework page on Mar 6 at 9:40pm.

Comment 113 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 21 has the start of some thought provoking questions. You've found good examples to illustrate potential conflicts in the IET Rules of Conduct.

In the future, perhaps you might find it useful to consider how you might amend the IET rules so that they could be more applicable to students who will be working on the group project next year.

Comment 112 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The difficulties and concerns that you accurately described in comment 24 is an important experience. Allocating failing marks to non-participating students is difficult, but, it gives you first hand experience with problems that frequently occur in many group activities. For example, this difficult experience should give you more insight into the importance of accountability, how to establish group practices that foster accountability and how to judge for yourself about the degree of accountability of others when you find yourself in a group work setting.

The steps that you've taken show thoughtful reflection and efforts. Doubts and making mistakes, but fixing them upon reflection, are necessary to any complicated activity. Please continue using the same approach.

Comment 111 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The Mastermind.pdf file uploaded on Jan 21 provides good documentation of the various choices available to implement a user interface.

However, it does not show or explain the research, motivation or analysis for the decision to implement the full Mastermind game board. For example, it does not provide any reasons why a full Mastermind game board is the better user interface than 4 buttons. Even better would be if you have prototyping analysis to back up the decision to implement a full game board. But, the document does not contain such analysis. The closest were pages 38 and 39, which indicated awareness of the relationship between usage of game play algorithms and the user interface. But, it did not investigate further.

Let's discuss this sooner rather than later. It would be better to have the discussion with as many of the group present as possible. One possibility is to discuss in the second hour at the next lecture. Otherwise, please contact me when your group would like to meet.

Comment 110 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The Internet usage is the same as the last discussion in class:
1) Use the university wireless network
2) Use your own wireless hotspot (e.g. from a mobile phone)
3) Use my Vodafone gateway (has both wired and wireless)

Option 2 is probably most convenient. But, each group can make their own choice.

Comment 109 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Functional, behavioural, quality and environmental are possible categories/sources of requirements. The discussion we had on Friday about the drawing and the use of the camera were mostly to develop functional requirements because the research and analysis were focused on how to implement the capability to measure rows.

Another area of research is to investigate and analyze the behaviour of the user when handling the product. That may lead to requirements that are intended to reinforce particular user behaviour. For example, you may decide that a requirement is that the product must boot and be usable within 2 seconds - because you observed that most users only want to use the product when they have an emergency.

Quality requirements reflect the designers' decisions on what quality level to target. If I'm designing a product for 2 year old kids, my focus on quality might mean that I require all visible parts to be larger than 5 cm to prevent accidental swallowing. If I'm designing a product for university students, my focus on quality might mean that the product has to be able to withstand 50 lbs of pressure due to the product often being packed into tight bags or sat upon.

Environmental requirements reflect the designer's goals for the product life cycle and end of use. There are many choices to build housing for a product, but, different materials have different impact on the environment. A designer could have particular goals which cause them to require a specific type of wood or a particular type of thermoplastic.

Comment 108 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

In the notes, there is a page with a "bad example" (bicycle) and a "better example" (airplane) of design requirements. The selection of design requirements is a precise reflection of the knowledge, skills and experience of the designer. The reasons that make the the bicycle example "bad" is that it is generic and can't be measured. It is a wishlist with minimal knowledge of the problem or objectives. The airplane example is "better" because it reveals more in depth knowledge of the problem and has values that can be measured.

Comment 107 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Document 92.pdf has brief specifications for several components. But, it does not have any research or analysis of how such components have been used in actual products, the strengths and weaknesses of how such components were used in actual products and comparisons of differences between different components providing similar capabilities.

Document 97.pdf has brief generic descriptions of 3 products. Most of text is marketing information. When there was some technical information, it was very brief and had no research of the details of the components or specifications. There were no research or analysis of components that could provide similar capabilities to features found in the 3 products.

Document 98.doc has general descriptions of 3 games. There were no research or analysis of technical or design issues. There were no research or analysis of components that could implement capabilities required for the second design problem.

Document 99.pdf has general descriptions of 3 different implementations of the Mastermind game. There is some attempt to identify the software used with the 2 software implementations - but, it missed an important point. The coursework does NOT require a new implementation of the Mastermind game. The coursework requires the design of a USER INTERFACE for playing the Mastermind game with an existing Mastermind game server. In fact, the unit website has a link to the web interface for playing against the game server. The coursework goal is to design a product that has a better user interface than just simply the online website. There were no other research or analysis in the document.

Document 100.pdf has general descriptions of 3 products. There were no research or analysis in the document.

Document 101.pdf has general descriptions of 2 specific products and 1 general product type. There were lists of components, but, no evidence or analysis of how such components provide the required capabilities for the coursework.

We've discussed the design process many times in class and it is also in the lecture notes. Specifically, design depends on a circular and iterative process of requirements, analysis and prototyping. There have been insufficient research to support the required depth of analysis.

As next steps, the group should select one concept for one design problem (either legos or mastermind), and go through all the steps:
1) Start with an initial requirements list
2) Research 3-6 specific products that use the selected concept
3) Research 2-6 specific components that could implement the selected concept
4) Make detailed comparisons of the information found in (2) and (3)
5) Change requirements based and make plans for prototyping based on (4)

Once the group has done that for one concept, then, repeat for the next concepts (at least 3 concepts for each design problem).

Comment 106 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The maximum number of rows is 10. The maximum number of bricks is 10 times the number of bricks that can fit on the board displayed in the coursework specifications document.

Comment 105 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The spreadsheet "parts List.xlsx" did not contain the direct links to the components. This was a requirement discussed many times in class. Please provide the direct links.

Comment 104 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your group has already picked up an Arduino board, so, that should not be on the list of components to order.

Comment 103 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

As we discussed in class during the past several weeks, please provide evidence of the research and analysis that have been done by the group that led to the decisions about which components the group needs for prototyping. It would be preferable to discuss the evidence of research and analysis during the second hour of class. But, that is not possible during the new year break, so, you can upload any documentation of research and analysis to the group coursework page. The same for the components, please upload or edit your group coursework page with the direct links to the components that the group wants to order for prototyping.

Comment 102 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 7 describes the approach that has been agreed by your team to handle allocation of individual marks. It is positive that you're keeping good records of the evidence for attendance and tasks. Has the group discussed how the evidence could be used to adjust the marks? For example, how much is deducted for a meeting absence? Would you prefer to be very specific or very general when it comes to how the group should use the collected evidence to determine individual marks allocations? Which approach would encourage the most participation from other students in the group?

Comment 101 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework. Specifically, task allocations MUST be added to the location where your group keeps all of its documentation. It should NOT be with your individual coursework page.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? By taking on the role of group leader now, how can you learn from the experience of the previous weeks?

Comment 100 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

It is not necessary to date or number the comments. Each comment is automatically numbered and timestamped.

Comment 99 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Generally, it would be acceptable to use outside resources to assist with non-essential aspects of the product prototyping.

Specifically, please discuss the details with me during lecture to obtain final approval before an actual usage.

Comment 98 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework. Specifically, source code MUST be added to the location where your group keeps all of its documentation. It should NOT be with your individual coursework page.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 97 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 6 indicated that the group is attempting to make significant changes, especially "penalizing group members that failed to complete their research by the set deadline" and "from our attendance records I can clearly see that some members fail to attend group meetings regularly". How could you help make the changes easier for yourself, for the group and for the other students?

Comment 96 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please re-read comment 7 about the purpose of the individual logbook coursework. Comment 8 belongs with the group coursework because it is about the work that has been assigned to you.

Comment 95 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework. Specifically, design concepts MUST be added to the location where your group keeps all of its documentation. It should NOT be with your individual coursework page.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 94 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comments 12 and 14 described some difficulties in the group related to communications, agreement and respect. Has it happened again? Have you changed any of your work habits to cope? Have you learned any new skills to cope?

Try to expand on how the group activities affects your own skills and goals. Have your personal goals change at all as the project progressed? Do you think the group goals have changed? What about the goals of the other students in the group?

Comment 93 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework. Specifically, source code and design concepts MUST be added to the location where your group keeps all of its documentation. It should NOT be with your individual coursework page.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 92 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Do not upload MS Word documents for your logbook. Use the comments form to add your logbook entries. It's quick and makes it easy to read it in chronological manner.

Comment 91 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 90 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students? Which factors make it more difficult for students in the group to work together? Going forward, which steps could encourage students to work together? Do your actions encourage or discourage other students to contribute to the group progress?

Comment 89 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The document "ENG500-Designprototypingandresearch.docx" is too general, which made it difficult to see how you intend to apply that concept to solve the design problems. Research and analysis are much more useful when it is focused on specific examples of actual products and actual components. Specific products and components can be compared and considered for prototyping. It is difficult to make detailed comparisons using general ideas.

Comment 88 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 87 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The link to the Mastermind web interface is on the unit website. That web interface is playing against the same server that the groups all have to play against.

Try playing the web interface to get an idea of the game play. The server randomly generates a secret code. It then immediately accepts guesses from the Internet. As soon as it receives a correct guess, it, generates a new secret code and continues accepting guesses. The reply tells the winner that they won. All the replies from the server have a toggle status flag that indicates whether a new game has started or not.

Comment 86 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You make some thoughtful observations about the group progress and group decisions. Could you develop new skills and also help the group by being more assertive about some of your ideas and concerns? Do you have the same personal goals as the group or the other students in the group? Are there changes that could help develop your own skills further?

Comment 85 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The 2 questions for analysis in the document "Framework for scanning shape.docx" are important and needs much deeper analysis. For example, what type of research and analysis could make the prototyping of this concept more useful?

Comment 84 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? How are you dependent on the other students in the group and how are the other students dependent on your work?

Comment 83 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The file "Group Design Project.pdf" is not useful because it is mostly information from the component specifications. That is too general and has no indication about how it would be relevant to your group. Page 9 is the only page that had some potential value. The flow chart on page 9 is a starting point, but, lacks details and has no analysis about how the flow chart could be prototyped.

This type of information belongs together with your group coursework - not in your individual coursework logbook.

Comment 82 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project (e.g. work plans) must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group?

Comment 81 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Do not write by editing the logbook page. Use the comments form to add your logbook entries. It's quick and makes it easy to read it in chronological manner.

Comment 80 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The file "Sensors.odt" is too generic. It contains a general description followed by the general component descriptions.

The file "_Portfolio_V3_25_11_2012.pdf" is a better description of one concept.

It is not clear which components the group wants to order. There are components in the "_Portfolio_V3_25_11_2012.pdf" file and there are more links in the group coursework comments. The problem with the components in the group coursework comments are that they are not from the approved vendor.

Please provide an update comment to CONFIRM which components should be ordered.

Comment 79 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 78 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

I agree with your view that a change in group organization did show a positive amount of flexibility in the relations between students in the group. Has that flexibility been effective in terms of output and results for the group? Has that flexibility been useful for you individually?

Comment 77 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

There was a big transition between comment 4 and comments 5-6. How did the group handle the change? What was your role in that? Was it effective? Has the issues been resolved? For example, how was this issue addressed, "that some of the tasks were harder than others"?

Comment 76 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework. Specifically, source code MUST be kept with the group project with all the other records that the group is keeping for the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? What are your personal goals and are they similar to the group goals or the goals of the other students?

Comment 75 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

How did you and the group attempt to handle the issues described in comments 4 and 5? For example, what steps were taken to "reiterate the point to the group that we will be adjusting the marks in accordance with the amount of effort and work done in the group"? Have you contributed to attempts to resolve the issues?

Comment 74 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project (e.g. group meeting minutes) must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? Did you think that the team leader nomination process was effective and successful?

Comment 73 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? Which skills do you want to learn from the group project?

Comment 72 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

How would you rate your own contributions to the group progress? Is it higher or lower than your expectations? What might be factors that affect the potential for your contributions?

Comment 71 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Records of your work and contributions to the group project must be kept with the group coursework.

The individual coursework requires that you think about how your involvement with the group project affects your goals, skills and perspective. For example, could you contribute more the group project? How? Can you use any previous skills or experience to help the group? Which skills do you want to learn from the group project?

Comment 70 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comments 3 and 4 have some general observations. Try to think about the issues at a more detailed level. For example, "there were a few disagreements over how difficult certain tasks are going to be, the group has found it hard to organise 12 people into all working an even amount". Which specific disagreements affected you? How were those disagreements resolved? Were you satisfied with the approach? Was any of your previous skills or experience useful in those situations? Do you think these disagreements will happen again?

Are you sure about this statement, "One issue we have had is that there are only two skilled programmers in our group, if we were to push others into this section it would go against the IETís rules of conduct (3)"? If that is true, how would anyone learn new skills?

Comment 69 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

There are important issues raised in your comments. Have the issues been addressed? It may be beneficial for the group if you did attempt to assert more of an influence about the group decisions. Sometimes, there are other people who may agree with you, but, do not have sufficient experience or courage to voice their opinions. Upon hearing your concerns, they may become more willing to voice their own agreement.

If you just go along, how would it affect your learning experience from the group project? You have more experience than a typical university student and by applying it to the group project, it would expand your own skills and provide benefits to the group.

One possible approach is to bring issues that you're concerned about for discussion at a meeting with the whole group. That way, it is not a personal action towards any one person.

Comment 68 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 3 made an interesting observation about the importance of having the right balance when prescribing a code of conduct. Has the group agreed a code of conduct to follow? How was the agreement discussed, communicated and enforced (especially with respect to the allocation of individual marks)? Would the use of a group code of conduct affect your own work habits and contributions to the group?

Comment 67 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 3 shows an attempt to use the shifting the burden systems archetype. Are you sure that removing the task from the 2 non-performing students eliminated the root cause? If that did remove the root cause, it would mean that those 2 students are not likely to ignore their assigned tasks in the future. How confident are you of that? Is there any other approach that the group could have considered?

Comment 66 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The comments are still too general. For example, if you read the IET Rules of conduct, did you agree with them? It is important for you to think about the reasons why you might agree and disagree with each rule. Where do the rules come from? Are the rules practical? How might you use them in your group?

Comment 65 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your reflections show a serious commitment to encourage and support a successful environment for all students in the group. Leadership is doing what needs to be done without being asked to do so. You're doing that.

Now is the time to change to a different aspect of leadership - setting an aspirational example. This is also important for your progress towards developing your own skills and meeting your own personal goals. Switch your efforts and focus on doing excellent research, analysis and prototyping work. It will be up to the other students in the group to decide whether they will try to match your work and learn something - or not. But, nonetheless, at least your work on progressing the design will ensure that you are developing important design skills for yourself - which is important for your own career development.

Keep up the hard work. Your work ethics will pay dividends in any professional organization.

Comment 64 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

What have you learned from investigating the pressure plate design concept? How did it use your previous knowledge and what did you learn? How did the group social activities work out? What were the effects on you individually and on the group as a whole?

Comment 63 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

That comment is too general and does not show reflection about your involvement in the project. Think about it at a lower level of detail. What do you mean when you write, "We have held two meetings till now which have been very productive"? What records or evidence did you use to determine that it was very productive? What do you mean when you write, "we would research more about this topic"? How will the research be measured and recorded?

Comment 62 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The transition between comment 9 and comment 10 is interesting and important. How did you and the group resolve that issue? How did that experience affect your own views and goals?

Glad to hear good news about the mock interviews. Is there anything from the experience of doing mock interviews that you can take back and use to make the group project more relevant to you and the other students in the group?

Comment 61 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 4 is a thoughtful reflection on your involvement in the project, your personal goals and the group goals.

Comments 4 and 5 might be better fit in the logbook for the group coursework because it is more of a record of your work. In the individual coursework, you want to write about reflections on your involvement in the group project. For example, it would be a better fit for the individual coursework if you wrote about your views about how learning about ultrasonic sensors might be useful after graduation or how learning in other units have affected your work with ultrasonic sensors.

Comment 60 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Have you discussed your concerns about the weighting and timing of work with students in the group? Additionally, consider whether the allocation of work fits into your own goals for learning and the type of skills you might want for after graduation.

Comment 59 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You made good observations about the group as a whole. Try to consider how your involvement in the group is affected by your own personal traits and goals - and how in turn the group is affecting your traits and goals.

Comment 58 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Do not write by editing the logbook page. Use the comments form to add your logbook entries. It's quick and makes it easy to read it in chronological manner.

Comment 57 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

"Must communicate with the game server using the uni's wifi" and "Must be able to communicate with game server over the internet" are both too general to be design requirements. Design requirements must be:
- Measurable
- Quantitative / numeric
- Domain specific vocabulary
- Technical
- Precise

One possible way to be more specific is to consider which specific protocols are required for the product to connect the server. We can precisely identify protocols required and we can precisely measure compliance with specific protocols. Confirmation of such protocols make it possible for the product to connect to the server.

Comment 56 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The content of your writing is very much along the lines of the coursework requirements. You make positive attempts to understand possible reasons why other students did not volunteer to lead the group. It is encouraging to see that your proactive and positive attempts to contact inactive students have yielded some success.

Continue to use this type of approach to address the remaining inactive student in the group. As we discussed at lecture today, how the group handles inactive student will affect the motivation of other students.

Comment 55 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

At the lecture session this morning, I asked each group whether they have met all the students in the group. It was a great disappointment to discover that NO ONE from this group was present in lecture. It was a shock that 13 university students in year 2 would put so little effort into a 20 credits unit.

In contrast, the other 7 teams were present and able to discuss their work.

Your success is equal to your effort. The consequence of no effort is the same at university as it it after university.

Comment 54 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The way to handle an awkward or difficult issue with another student in the group is to have direct conversation in person. When talking, provide specific details of the problem. Be firm in your conversation, but, don't be angry. Maintain good records so that you have evidence of the problem should the problem continue in the future and needs outside intervention.

If the other student avoids a direct conversation, then, maintain good records of your attempts to meet and move on. By avoiding the conversation, the other student has admitted fault.

Comment 53 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Planning requires making adjustments to cope with changing situations. The students who are not participating are preventing the progress of the group and it is not situation that could be known in advance.

It is important to give everyone a fair and equal opportunity to learn, contribute and be successful. 7 weeks is more than fair. I'd suggest that the current students in the group continue to keep good records (and use tools to help facilitate such record keeping) and make group announcements and updates available to all students. However, ignore the students who do not participate and focus on setting new plans with the students who are participating. If a student wants to fail, that is their choice. The rest of the group should move on and make new and positive plans for the group that is remaining.

We can teach people new skills - but, it is nearly impossible to change personal traits. That is why personal traits and the ability to learn are more important than your existing skills when applying for jobs. It is better to hire people with positive personal traits and put them through training to learn more skills. It is nearly impossible to hire someone with good skills and try to change their negative personal traits.

Please plan to meet with me in the second hour of the lecture session next week. I'd like to learn about the new plans of the students who are participating in the group project.

Comment 52 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please either write information by editing the group coursework page, using the comments form or upload as documents. Links to Facebook or Google docs are not sufficient.

Comment 51 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Which steps could you take to develop your skills while also contributing to the group?

Comment 50 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

What did you take away from your research that affected your skills and goals? Have you learned from research and work done by other students in the group?

Comment 49 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 48 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please provide information about the designs and prototypes that the group is planning for these components.

Comment 47 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

How did the group issue that you described affected you? How were you involved and what was your contributions?

Comment 46 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Do not write by editing the logbook page. Use the comments form to add your logbook entries. It's quick and makes it easy to read it in chronological manner.

Comment 45 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

How do the personal goals of students in the group match or support the goals of the group? What could be done to better align the individual goals and the team goals?

You also identified an important problem - addressing extra features instead of the required features. What might be the cause of such behaviour? How could you help the group to change such behaviour?

Comment 43 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Nice detailed notes about the progress of the group. Try to expand on how the group activities affects your own skills and goals. Are there any opportunities to raise your own performance and the performance of the group?

Comment 42 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Comment 3 is a general description. Think about it at a lower level of detail. What do you mean when you write, "I have done a lot of research"? Is that minutes, hours, days or weeks? How many different sources? How much prototyping? How many measurements? What do you mean when you write, "each team member really work hard"? How is the work of each team member measured and recorded?

Comment 41 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

What was your involvement in developing the possible solutions? Does your assigned task fit with your goals at university and after graduation?

Comment 40 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Although it may not have a direct link to your coursework mark, your conscientious approach will enable you to learn about your strengths and weaknesses and develop important intangible skills beyond the unit.

In the situations when a private discussion does not resolve problems with non-participating or non-contributing students, then, it is better to directly confront those problems in a GROUP setting, such as a group meeting. Then, make decisions about penalties or steps forward at the same time so that it is clear that the issue is important and that there is a link between the problem and the consequences. It is important that a record is maintained so that the group can move on and forward without being dragged back by a student who pretends to not know what has already been discussed and agreed.

Comment 39 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 38 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

We discussed a number of questions and records that are important for the group:

- What are the key decisions that the team have made so far?
- What are the next key decisions to be made?
- How will those future decisions be made?
- How is progress measured for the team?
- How is contribution measured for each team member?

We also discussed that each group must maintain accurate records of the following:

Those items above should provide numerous opportunities for you to reflect on your personal experiences and write in your logbook.

Comment 37 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the issues that need to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 36 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your writing shows good attention to details and awareness of personal traits. You may want to consider how the goals of other individual students in the group could affect your own personal goals. Are there specific steps or tasks in the project that could help you incrementally achieve your personal goals while contributing to the team progress?

Comment 35 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the other issues needs to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 34 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the other issues needs to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 33 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the other issues needs to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 32 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Please read the marking criteria for the individual logbook to remind yourself of the other issues needs to be considered when writing your logbook.

Comment 31 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Groups should only buy what they need for their design and prototyping activities. When requesting parts, there should be information on the group coursework page to explain the design purposes for using the parts. The unit lecturer will let the group know if their parts are not with reasonable costs limits. But, it should not be necessary to reach that point if parts are only ordered based on design and prototyping activities.

Comment 30 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

There are some interesting possible ideas in your logbook entry. When writing, organise your thoughts to help develop your ideas further.

Comment 29 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The short logbook entry shows your assigned tasks. What do you think about them? Were you involved in the discussions to assign tasks? How are the tasks related to your university studies? How are they related to your goals at university and after graduation?

Comment 28 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your logbook demonstrate that you are taking a very responsible approach towards the group performance. It is useful and proactive that you're seeking feedback from outside the unit.

There are a number of issues that need attention, but, the most important issue is probably how to allocated individual marks. Agreement on that issue will affect how the team should handle students who do not participate or do not contribute. Do not put too much effort on how to build a system to keep track of individual marks. Instead, focus on generating discussion and agreement on a solution for allocating individual marks. Then, build a system that supports the solution.

I will plan to meet with your group in the second hour of lecture tomorrow.

Comment 27 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The description of the group activities is informative. You can improve it by writing about more specific examples relating to you. For example, how were you involved in the process of discussing and selecting possible design solutions? How were you affected after the discussions and decisions?

Comment 26 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Do not write by editing the logbook page. Use the comments form to add your logbook entries. It's quick and makes it easy to read it in chronological manner.

Comment 25 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your writing indicate that the group is making good progress. The method for individual mark allocation is novel.

To mitigate the risk of complacency, you may want to consider specific goals that could act as evidence of you and the group reaching the next level of performance. For example, if you or another student report that a task is finished, look again and see if the task could have been completed to a higher level. When someone is done researching a topic, was it comprehensive? Could it be communicated to everyone in a more clear manner? Were the sources the highest available quality? When someone is done analysing a design approach, was it in depth? How rigorous were the comparisons? Was there sufficient details to match the desired depth of analysis? Which opportunities were taken for prototyping? Which opportunities were not taken for prototyping and why? Use questions like these to help identify and set higher performance goals.

Comment 24 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Nov 4 is the due date for the first SK Pang order. I'll also announce this at lecture tomorrow.

Comment 23 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The thoughts and implementation of a "coaching" approach is impressive. It shows that you and other students in the group being proactive.

The purpose of system archetypes is to help us identify potential traps. Even if you don't see it now, knowledge of the archetypes will increase the possibility of you spotting such traps early in the future.

Comment 22 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

It is encouraging that you see an opportunity to apply your placement experience to the product development and that your group is factoring outside due dates (e.g. maths exam) into the group plans.

Comment 21 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Which sub-group are you on? What are your thoughts about being in that sub-group? Which specific methods will you and the other students in group use to share information between the sub-groups?

Comment 20 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Marks for individual logbooks are specific to each individual student - it is not shared or distributed with the group portfolio marks.

Comment 19 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Regarding comment 3 - it is sufficient that you wrote more in comment 3 to finish your thoughts in comment 1. Keeping comment 1 as it is records both your efforts as well as the development of your thoughts.

Comment 18 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The emphasis on the second design problem is a creative user interface that would assist a human player. Each guess must be submitted by a person. The design challenge is to provide a user interface and as much information as possible to help the human player win.

There are a number of wireless shields for the Arduino. The team can choose based on the coursework constraints and the design requirements from the team.

Generally, if the team wants to use Arduino boards other than the Uno, then, it needs to be based on actual design requirements. If the design requirements justify the use of a different Arduino board, then, it may be possible to use it. It is a case by case discussion with each team. Specifically, it may be difficult to obtain details and availability information about the new Arduino Due board. That may raise the risk of designing any solutions based on that board.

Comment 17 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You made an excellent point about the importance of listening to ideas from other students and then improving on it. When that happens frequently, it creates a positive spiral effect which gradually develops an excellent result through contributions from multiple students. This is one of the benefits of working in a group. The main limitation is that the benefits are proportional to the performance of the group members.

Comment 16 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The concepts are interesting. Continue your research by thinking about how each concept can be explored in more details through small prototype versions.

Comment 15 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You've accurately identified a question for research. You can search the sensor documentation and prototype with it in order to confirm its operating limits.

Comment 14 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your writing is easy to read and it mentioned a number of difficulty issues. Your identification of the Shifting the Burden archetype to the vicious spiral of needing students to attend meetings in order to have enough participation to make decisions, and, then the delay of not making decisions because of low turnout. Discuss with the active students in the group about possible steps to address that problem. We can also discuss this further next week (in the second hour after lecture).

Comment 13 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You did not come to lecture in week 2 as required to assign students to groups. In week 3, you personally insisted that you were absent because of sickness and that you should still be allowed to join the group - even though it would exceed the limit I had set at that time. I listened and assigned you to the group that you requested. In weeks 4 and 5, you have been absent from lecture.

It is up to your group to determine how your absence affects your individual mark when it comes time for the group to allocate individual marks. But, there is more to university than just coursework marks - there is also respect and honesty.

You should not be surprised that your words will have less value in the future. Respect and honesty is as valuable at university as it is after graduation. It takes a long time to earn respect - but, you can lose respect all at once.

Comment 12 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You did not come to lecture in week 2 as required to assign students to groups. In week 3, you personally insisted that you were absent because of sickness and that you should still be allowed to join the group - even though it would exceed the limit I had set at that time. I listened and assigned you to the group that you requested. In weeks 4 and 5, you have been absent from lecture.

It is up to your group to determine how your absence affects your individual mark when it comes time for the group to allocate individual marks. But, there is more to university than just coursework marks - there is also respect and honesty.

You should not be surprised that your words will have less value in the future. Respect and honesty is as valuable at university as it is after graduation. It takes a long time to earn respect - but, you can lose respect all at once.

Comment 11 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Lego duplo bricks will be distributed to teams for use during prototyping.

Comment 10 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Room A0.31 has been until Dec 5 for your group. Room A1.10 has been booked for Dec 12. All bookings are 10-11am.

Comment 9 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The first post is a good summary of forming a team and getting started. You considered some of your goals for the unit. You may also want to consider the goals of the other students and compare the individual goals of the students with the "apparent" goal of the group as indicated by the results or performance of the group.

Comment 8 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Use the comments form to add entries to your logbook. As an option for convenience, you can also upload photos of notes or work that you want included in your logbook.

Comment 7 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

You may want to consider the effects of taking on the hardware design responsibilities. For example, if you are doing hardware because you already have hardware skills, then, how will you use the project to expand your current skills? Is there any benefit to working on project tasks that might require you to develop entirely new skills?

The issue of design affecting price is very interesting. Hopefully, you and the group will continue that discussion and look at it through prototyping.

Comment 6 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Your description of the group activities is very informative, especially how different ideas were proposed and voted upon. You may want to consider more about how the group process to select a design concept affected your own knowledge and skills.

Comment 5 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

I will check which rooms are available to book for your group meetings at the date and times you requested.

Comment 4 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The design constraints are the same for all groups - the solution must be based on the Arduino platform and accessories must be available from the SK Pang vendor. Using other lego electronic products would not be allowed if it violates one of those design constraints.

Comment 3 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

Lego duplo bricks will be distributed to teams for use during prototyping. I'll provide a target date in class once the order has been sorted.

Comment 2 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

The lego blocks have colors of red, green, blue, orange and yellow.

Comment 1 by Moderator @ 1970-01-01 00:00

I've uploaded the notes from lecture. The list of names on each team was only for use during lecture, not for uploading, because it contained student names and ID numbers.